Maybe this is a policeman shot and paralysed in the line of duty? Maybe they named something after him? I'm always saddened when I see Memorial Highway signs. Or...can I have a second guess? ... he got a bravery award?

Is it one of the seven Medal of Honor recipients and honored Grand Marshals of the 1952 TofR?

I found this interesting bit while scouring the interwebs for an answer:

On April 24, 1952, Rodriguez and his fiancée Miss Rose Aranda were the invited guest on “You Bet Your Life”, a 1950s television gameshow hosted by Groucho Marx. The following is part of the conversation between Rodriguez and Marx in the show:

Groucho: If you don’t win any money here tonight it won’t be my fault, son! Well, Joe, that’s the most amazing thing I ever heard. There’s just one thing I’d like to know – when you were running through all that lead, what were you thinking about?

Joe: Well, I wasn’t thinking – I was just mad, I guess.

Groucho: You wiped out a whole army just because you got mad? Joe...if I said anything here tonight that you resent, I was just being facetious.

In 1953, Rodriguez married Rose and together they had three children. He subsequently became a commissioned officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers, serving more than 30 years in the U.S., through four Latin American assignments, and unaccompanied tours in Korea and Vietnam. In 1980, Rodriguez retired from the Army with the rank of Colonel.

This officer contracted the paralyzing disease polio about 1951. The Pasadena Police Department supported him by assigning him to parking enforcement division. In his right hand he is holding a chalk stick used to mark tires. In his lap is a ticket book for writing parking infraction tickets. The police department gave him the roses to commemorate his long years of service.